APPLICATION OF EXPERIMENT METHOD TO IMPROVE STUDENTS CRITICAL THINKING ABILITY IN CHEMISTRY TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS

The application of the experimental method in this reasearch was aims to improve students’ critical thinking ability. The selection of experimental methods in the teaching and learning process can help build the basic skills of students, and improve students’ strategic abilities. The research method used in this research was true experimental designs, pretest-posttest control group design. The population of this research were all class VIII of SMP PENABUR Tanjung Duren which consisted of 3 classes. Sample were taken at random sampling test as much as 2 class, where one class becomes an experimental class and other class becomes a control class. The independent variable in this research was experimental method, and the dependent variable was students’ critical thinking ability. The instrument used was the essay test. Based on the pre-requisite analysis, data research for normally distributed with sig value 0.843 > 0.05, and homogenity with sig value 0.953 > 0.05. The results showed that the improvement of students’ critical thinking abilities for each indicator were: 1) giving a simple explanation = 82.35%, 2) building basic skills = 94.12%, 3) Conclusion = 77.94%, 4) Make further explanation = 74.51%, 5) strategy and tactics = 86.27%. The increase obtained is included in the medium category with a value of 5.04 DOI : doi.org/10.24071/snfkip.2018.22